Vehicles such as passenger automobiles are provided with a container holding device called a cup holder for holding beverage containers. This kind of cup holder with a lid is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-48474, for example. This cup holder will be described with reference to FIG. 8 hereof.
A cup holder 100 shown in FIG. 8 consists of a holder body 101 in a hollow shape opening at the top and having a first bottom supporting portion 107, a lid 102 provided at the holder body 101 in an openable and closable manner, and a second bottom supporting portion 103 provided at the lid 102 in such a manner as to be able to be turned up and down.
For short containers 104 and 105, the lid 102 is opened, and the second bottom supporting portion 103 is brought down from the lid 102 to a horizontal position. Then, the container 104 or 105 is placed on the second bottom supporting portion 103.
For a tall bottle 106, the lid 102 is opened. However, the second bottom supporting portion 103 is kept stored in the lid 102 without being brought down. Then, the bottle 106 is placed on the first bottom supporting portion 107 which constitutes the bottom of the holder body 101.
To hold the container 104, 105 or 106, it is always necessary to open the lid 102 regardless of the height of the containers 104, 105 and 106. When the container 104, 105 or 106 is held, it is impossible to close the lid 102 to utilize the top surface of the lid 102 as a surface on which to rest an elbow, for example.
When the second bottom supporting portion 103 is put in the horizontal position and the container 104 or 105 is placed thereon, touching the lid 102 will not only move the lid 102 but also move the second bottom supporting portion 103 in conjunction with it. This can shake the container 104 or 105 and spill the contents.
As described above, whenever the cup holder 100 is used, the lid 102 must be kept open. When the second bottom supporting portion 103 is used, care must be taken not to inadvertently touch the lid 102, which is not user-friendly.
Thus, there is demand for a container holding structure which allows a lid to be closed even in use, depending on the kind of container, and eliminates the possibility that touching the lid in an open state will cause spillage of the contents from a container.